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Canadian Rocky Mountains Ecoregion: Biodiversity

Map: WA Department of Natural Resources

Some of Washington’s wildest country is found in its far northeastern corner. Large mammals such as moose and the endangered mountain caribou live in the deep boreal forests.

Location

The western edge of the Rocky Mountains form this ecoregion in Washington's northeastern corner. Made up primarily of the Selkirk Mountains, it encompasses 4% of the state.

Beyond Washington’s borders, the Canadian Rocky Mountains ecoregion stretches east into Idaho and Montana, and a long way north into British Columbia and Alberta.

In Washington, the ecoregion is bounded by the Okanogan ecoregion on the west and touches the Columbia Plateau ecoregion on its southwestern edge.

The ecoregion is sparsely populated, though Highways 20 and 31 run north-south along the Pend Oreille River, connecting towns like Newport, Ione, and Metaline Falls.

Outstanding Biodiversity Features

• Mountain caribou in boreal forests. With fewer than 50 remaining in Washington and Idaho, the mountain caribou, also known as the woodland caribou, is the most endangered large mammal in the continental United States. It still finds habitat in the Selkirk Mountains.

• Montane wetlands with rare plants. At Halliday Fen in the Selkirks, more than a dozen rare plants grow, including the mingan moonwort, Buxbaum's sedge, yellow sedge, crested shield-fern, and water avens.

Landforms

The Canadian Rocky Mountains are part of the vast Rocky Mountain range that spreads across the North American continent. Much of the ecoregion is mountainous, reaching more than 7,000 feet, while the Pend Oreille and Columbia River valleys lie at roughly 1,300 feet above sea level.

Washington’s Canadian Rocky Mountain ecoregion is a landscape shaped by ice. Retreating glaciers left behind broad horseshoe-shaped valleys and craggy mountain peaks.

The north-flowing Pend Oreille River cuts a diagonal line through the ecoregion, meeting the Columbia River at the Canadian border. The Columbia River flows south from Canada, crossing the Canadian Rocky Mountains ecoregion at its northwest corner.

Climate

Climate varies considerably from north to south in the Canadian Rocky Mountains ecoregion. A boreal weather pattern influences the northern end while inland maritime patterns affect the southern end.

Precipitation ranges from 80 inches, much of it snow, in the northern mountains to under 20 inches in the southern valleys. Overall, the precipitation averages just under 30 inches annually.

Vegetation

Photo: Ben Legler

The Canadian Rocky Mountains ecoregion supports Rocky Mountain plants at the edge of their range in Washington. Alpine meadows, dense coniferous forests, riparian woodlands, and rolling grasslands are all found here.

At low elevation dry sites, forests of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir are common. Moister, or mesic, sites find western red cedar, western hemlock, grand fir, and western white pine standing above an understory of lady fern and devil’s club. These forests share many species with the West Cascades and Puget Trough ecoregions.

High elevation forests consist of whitebark pine, western larch, and subalpine fir. The shrubby understory includes fool's huckleberry, Sitka alder, big huckleberry, and Cascade mountain ash. In areas of high snowpack, montane coniferous wetlands feed the region’s headwaters.

Along rivers, streams, and lakes, herbaceous wetlands are common. Black cottonwood and willows dominate the riparian zones along the Columbia and Pend Oreille.

Grasslands can be found on the lower foothills and on higher hillsides with southern exposures. Round Top Mountain is capped with a green fescue grassland that includes habitat for a pair of rare dryland sedges.

Terrestrial Wildlife

Many large mammal species inhabit the wild spaces of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Abundant are white-tail deer, mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk, moose, bighorn sheep, and black bear. Less numerous, but still found, are mountain caribou, gray wolves, wolverines, and grizzly bears.

The upland forests host a number of bird species, among them the black-backed woodpecker and the Northern goshawk.

The ecoregion’s waters host considerable fish diversity. White sturgeon can grow to more than eight feet long, weighing several hundred pounds. Burbot, a freshwater cod, spawns under ice in winter. Mountain whitefish and bull trout also inhabit the ecoregion.

People in the Ecoregion

Archaeological records date human habitation back at least 11,000 years. The ecoregion is an ancestral home to the Kalispel or Pend Oreille, who retain a small reservation near Usk.

The first European to pass through the region was mapmaker and fur trader David Thompson. Missionaries followed trappers and fur traders, who in turn were followed by miners. Hard rock mining, first for gold and later for lead and zinc, began in the 1850s and continued for a century. Timbering began in the late nineteenth century and continues in the heavily forested ecoregion.

Much of the ecoregion is managed by federal or state agencies. The Colville and Kaniksu National Forests are major landholders. Private lands in the region are found mostly in the fertile river corridors.

Tourism has grown rapidly in recent decades. The abundant recreational opportunities—hiking, skiing, snowmobiling, fishing, hunting—have led to a boom in retirement and vacation homes.

Human Impact

The Canadian Rocky Mountain ecoregion remains intact ecologically but still faces threats to biodiversity conservation, including:

• Past forest management practices. Most of the ecoregion’s forests have seen changed composition and function because of customary harvesting practices, such large clear cuts, single species selection, and removal of dead and downed trees. Habitat fragmentation affects vulnerable animals such as mountain caribou, fishers, and goshawks.

• Changes in fire frequency and intensity. The alteration of the natural fire regime has changed water, nitrogen, and carbon cycles. The denser forest of smaller trees that has resulted is more prone to disease, insects, and large fires.

• Recreation and sprawling development. The Canadian Rocky Mountain ecoregion has become an outdoor playground. Plant and wildlife habitats suffer when lands are converted to golf courses and vacation homes.

The Selkirk Mountains, with their extant populations of mountain caribou, grizzly bears, gray wolves, lynx, and martin, offer an excellent opportunity to conserve the integrity of this ecoregion. Partnerships among agencies, residents, and recreationists will be vital to finding solutions to these conservation challenges.